Collecting These to Bring Home to You
by Fallende
Summary: With the realization that Dave is in love with John comes the realization that he also can't stay in one place. So Dave packs up his art supplies and leaves town. It's unlikely he'll ever come across people again, and everyone just wants him to come home, but Dave needs to feel the wind in his hair and be alone with his own thoughts for a while. Two-shot.
1. Chapter 1

When Dirk decides it's time to keep the keys out of the ignition and settle down for once in their bleeding lives, his little brother says nothing. Though Dave feels left out in this town and knows his heart belongs on the road, Bro has sacrificed so much and it's finally time to give up something for him. Dave is 14 years old and unhappy, and doesn't feel the same amount of physical closeness to the people here that Dirk does. But that's just the thing. Bro has people here, people other than his overdependent little brother, and for the very first time Dirk actually seems to be enjoying himself. There's the very barest hint of a smile on his face when he looks after Jake, and he's spent more and more time with Roxy and Jane, and Dave has never seen him act like this.

Over the next 2 years, Dave makes some friends. Rose is dark and likes to stick her tentacles where they don't belong. He's been on the receiving end of her psychoanalysis and he's started to become convinced that maybe Freud _may _be on to something, and that perhaps his dreams really do revolve around phallic objects, simply because the gothic girl has drilled the idea into his head so many times.

Jade is quirky and cute, and it was common knowledge that she had a crush on Dave at some point. Though she got over it quickly and had become one of Dave's closest friends, and he knew he could count on her for anything, she had some trouble keeping a secret.

But closest of all was John. _John_. There wasn't much to say about John. He was a simple boy, who worked diligently for his father and loved to play pranks on anyone and everyone, though mostly Dave. His eyes were a breathtaking cerulean blue and he used to have this slightly adorable overbite. He was sweet and was Dave's best friend.

And Dave was also in love with him.

With that realization came the realization that Dave simply couldn't sit still. It was a year after this, when Dave was 16, when he decided he was old enough to hit the road once again. So he packed up a few pairs of clothes, the warmest coat he could find as well as all of his art supplies, threw on a pair of hiking boots, and stole the keys to their shitty truck from his brother. He was gone in less than an hour.

The thing about leaving towns was that you were never guaranteed to find anyone again. An infection had spread through the world years ago. It was hardly a zombie apocalypse, though sometimes him and John used to pretend it was and make a game of it. Everyone simply died. The few remaining people in the world were either alone or spread out in very small groups across the country. There was only a population of about 30 in the town Dave had just left, and he'd only come across 1 other small town in all the years he was on the road with his brother.

Dave spends several weeks driving, going on several months, siphoning gas from abandoned cars all along the streets. He manages to leave Washington state and gets almost through Oregon before his thoughts stray to the people he had left. He's lying in the bed of his truck, trying to get what small amount of shut eye he can, when sudden panic grips him. He's not stupid. Food wasn't hard to come by but he'd have to hit another abandoned city first, and blindly heading south could take days before he found anything substantial enough to carry along with him on the ride. That was one thing farms in the town had going for them; there was always food, even in the winter. Here he was so hungry he could barely keep his eyes focused.

But on the road was also where he belonged. Sitting alone in his car, listening to his own musical mixes and coming up with some more in his head, Dave was content. His thoughts could stray anywhere they wanted, from the dangers of communism to the cowboy laws of the south, where he was originally from. He had no obligations: no crops to help reap, no giggling girls whose romantic feelings he had to ignore. There was only himself, his never ending thoughts, and his sketches and photographs.

But food was always a problem. And he had to find some soon.

The next day he comes across a small cornfield owned simply by an old lady. She calls herself Nanna and feeds him almost immediately after Dave nearly passses out on her porch. It's not much, just a small bit of cornbread and some steamed carrots, but it's enough to fill a stomach.

Dave spends the next week and half working for her in order to pay back his debt. She's a good cook and compliments on the honest, quick work. It's not as if he hasn't been getting all his food from a farm for the past 2 years. He knows his way around tills and horses. Dave can farm just as well as the rest of them. She continues to feed him good meals and Dave is almost reluctant to leave, but he misses the open road and the click of his camera's shutter, and he needs things to photograph. So Dave apologizes and Nanna simply laughs, that trilling _Hoohoo_ thing that she does, and Dave is once again starting his vehicle and grinding the pavement beneath his wheels.

It's another few weeks before Dave manages to find a library with working internet. He instantly signs in to pesterchum. Phones don't work anymore, but if one looks hard enough there are still some working computers with internet. And there is always at least 1 person from the town online.

Lucky for Dave, it's been 3 and a half months he's been gone and the first person he'll hear from again is Karkat.

-_ turntechGodhead began pestering carcinoGeneticist at 14:02 _-

**TG: **sup

**CG: **YOU  
**CG**: YOU UNBELIEVABLE ASSHOLE  
**CG: **YOU UNGRATEFUL WRIGGLER DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO THAT SCUMBAG YOU CALL A BROTHER  
**CG: **I'VE NEVER SEEN A GROWN MAN WHINE THE WAY THAT PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A MAN HAS

**TG: **so bro misses me then?  
**TG: **surprising

**CG: **WE ALL MISS YOU FUCKHEAD  
**CG: **WHAT THE FUCK. WE THOUGHT YOU WERE MISSING, DRAGGED OUR FEET THROUGH MUD AND LEAVES FOR DAYS LOOKING FOR YOUR SMELLY ASS  
**CG: **THOUGH ADMITTEDLY IT WOULD HAVE GONE FASTER IF ANY OF US COULD HAVE USED OUR TINY SHRIVLED FUCKING THINKPANS LONG ENOUGH TO NOTICE THE TRUCK WAS FUCKING GONE

**TG: **you said it, not me

**CG: **SHUT YOUR TRAP FOR A FEW MINUTES HERE WHILE I RANT ANGRY GREY LETTERS AT YOUR UNMOVING FACE  
**CG: **WHERE DO YOU GET OFF LEAVING AND NOT BLEATING A SINGLE THING FROM YOUR BIG GOAT MOUTH  
**CG: **I GET THAT YOU AND YOUR OTAKU BROTHER HAD A LONER THING GOING  
**CG: **BUT PEOPLE HERE CARE ABOUT YOU. YOUR BROTHER CARES ABOUT YOU.  
**CG: **JOHN'S FACE WAS LEAKING FUCKING RIVERS. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP  
**CG: **HALF THE TOWN CRIED

**TG: **im flattered  
**TG: **but like you said, got the whole loner thing going  
**TG: **guess I shoulda told the egbert  
**TG: **boy can barely make it through the day without my beautiful ass to keep him company  
**TG: **tell him im sorry

**CG: **WHY DON'T YOU TELL HIM YOURSELF FUCKWAD

**TG**: cant, gotta hit the road  
**TG: **it calls to me  
**TG**: sweet song and a dull melody that I cant get out of my head  
**TG: **wont be okay until there are road lines passing beneath my feet

**CG: **WAIT  
**CG: **YOU TOOL

- _turntechGodhead ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist at 14:25 -_

- _ectoBiologist began pestering turntechGodhead at 14:27 _-

**EB: **dave?  
**EB: **fuck

He's raided more grocery stores than he can count on 2 hands. Lucky for Dave, there's always doritos. If there was one thing in the world that can feed his artistic muse, it's doritos. He's basically been living on those and canned peaches (because those fuckers can last forever) for an indiscernible amount of months. Somewhere in this conglomerate of time he managed to befriend a stray crow, which he drops stale cheerios from time to time. He filled an entire sketchbook with that crow, soaring over mountains or pecking at water. It wasn't hard to find another, which he's already started in on. There's also many drawings of John. Perhaps too many. Dave ends up tearing most of them out.

The damn crow has a bad habit of picking up these discarded papers and building a nest out of them in the corner of the truck. Dave doesn't mind but he thinks John might not appreciate becoming some bird's shit hole.

He reckons it's been about 8 months. He's been driving aimlessly for about 8 months and he must be somewhere in the middle of California. He's found some trinkets in the places he's visited; a few books that Rose would like, some colored rubber bands shaped like sea creatures he's sure Jade can find some use for. Dave does his best to stay away from picking up anything that would remind him of John, but he found a pair of trick handcuffs and he just knew that with these, Egbert's prankster gambit would skyrocket. All of these items are thrown in the tied down trunk in the bed where he keeps his food.

Theres a blanket draped across his lap, and although it hasn't snowed in California yet, that doesn't mean his Texas blood doesn't find it cold. Something beeps on the dashboard and when Dave looks down, he finds the tank is nearly empty. Theres some stray cars around him and he pulls over to siphon what he can from them. If he's lucky he can get half a tank.

He's got a tube shoved into the gas tank of a ford focus when he hears the crunch of footsteps. Someone's running at him, and they certainly weren't looking for a hug. Flashstepping quickly from the car, Dave whips around and finds a knife in the space he had previously occupied. A man with a vicious scar across his face is scowling at him. Dave tenses and instantly falls into a battle stance.

The battle is quick and the stranger has a weapon, but Dave's been strifing with his brother for so long that no highway robber is going to get the best of him. The highwayman is down in a few minutes and Dave's staring into his eyes without his trademark glasses to hide his face. They must have slipped off during the fight. Still, he conveys as much danger into his blood red eyes as he can, and the robber gets the lesson. Dave reluctantly takes his weight off the man's neck.

He's introduced to the man, named Jack Noir. Oddly enough, the man offers to share what he has so long as Dave shares his, and introduces him to his ragtag gang. There are 3 others in the group, and they've been stealing people blind for years. Dave's no fool, and he keeps his stuff safe, but he stays with him for more time than he'd like to admit. He's also become an accomplice on some of their robberies and he's not too proud of that, but it's not as if he hasn't been stealing stuff from abandoned cities this whole time. Still, it's different to take from people and after what he considers to be too long, he accumulates a full tank of gas and ditches the men.

Jack Noir had actually been a pretty badass dude, and Dave learned some stuff about survival from watching him hunt animals and take roadkill. The thought of eating dead forest critters disturbs him at first but watching the midnight crew do what they had to for survival had toughened Dave's skin, and he finds his stomach isn't constantly gnawing with hunger on the roads anymore.

It's been just about a year, and Dave knows his next priority is to find internet. It's been too long since he contacted anyone from the town. It's about time they heard from him.

- _turntechGodhead began pestering timeaeusTestified at 18:46 _-

**TG: **sup bro  
**TG: **cant believe your actually on**  
TG: **been a while huh

**TT: **lil man  
**TT: **sure has been  
**TT: **what with you driving off into the sunset, not breathing a word

**TG: **yeah, guess i really am still living in your shadow huh

**TT: **nahh**  
TT: **if that were the case youd have settled down here with me  
**TT: **So hows the open road treating you again?

**TG: **oh, you know, same as always  
**TG: **made friends with a crow and then accidentally ran it through with one of your shitty swords  
**TG: **kicked it with some highwaymen, broke some laws that dont exist anymore  
**TG: **actually i dont really wanna talk about that one

**TT: **david strider, enemy of the state

**TG: **the ladies are digging it**  
TG: **cant keep their grubby paws off me, flooding from the left and the right**  
TG: **hope your okay with lots of babies

**TT: **lil man, lets not pretend were not raging homos

**TG: **yeah okay**  
TG: **kinda wish I still had all your sweet mixing gear, came up with so much sweet stuff in my head  
**TG: **as it is, ive been listening to our same shit on repeat for the last year

**TT: **want me to find egbert?

**TG: **yeah

- _timeaeusTestified ceased pestering turntechGodhead at 17:02 -_

Dave feels his heartbeat speed up. John. It's been too long, and yet he still remembers the boy's voice. As if he could ever forget.

Dave doesn't even notice he's been holding his breath until John's chumhandle lights up on the computer screen. Still, he waits for John to message him first. Don't want to seem desperate.

- _etcoBiologist began pestering turntechGodhead at 17:08 -_

**EB: **so the elusive man finally shows himself

**TG: **sup dude

**EB: **sup yourself  
**EB: **I'm not the one whose been living on the road for the past year

**TG: **oh you know, working for old Nannas, befriending a crow, photographing some mountains  
**TG: **joining a band of highway robbers  
**TG: **sketching some sunsets and writing shitty raps about your dorky ass in my notebooks  
**TG: **being a real adventurer unlike your stupid cousin

**EB: **hey, Jake's pretty cool  
**EB: **but yeah your life sounds a lot cooler right now

**TG: **well of course it does, I actually go out and do shit with it

**EB: **don't you get lonely?

**TG: **are you fucking kidding me**  
TG: **striders dont get lonely we have our artistic genius to keep us company

**EB: **you said earlier you befriended a crow

**TG: **wow okay**  
TG: **just**  
TG: **i also said an old lady and a band of robbers**  
TG: **and anyways i like being on my own most of the time

**EB: **don't you miss us?

**TG: **nahh**  
TG: **you forget ive been on the road most of my life**  
TG: **so longs I got somewhere to drive and something to draw im content

**EB: **you miss me though**  
EB: **I know you miss me you sorry ass**  
EB: **and I miss your sorry ass too.

**TG: **yeah yeah lets not throw down a feelings jam  
**TG: **what about you how you been

**EB: **farming, uggh.  
**EB: **met a girl a few months back  
**EB: **she's my new pranking 'muse', as you would put it

Dave can practically feel the new hole in his heart forming. _A girl. _And she's inspired his 'pranking muse'.

**TG: **a girl?

**EB: **her name's Casey. stumbled into town a while back.  
**EB: **she's cute. bubbly personality. I think you'd like her.  
**EB: **she's got this ridiculously orange hair that she keeps in pigtails

**TG: **sounds cool

**EB: **hey dave?**  
EB: **when are you coming back?**  
EB: **you should come back soon

His fingers still at the keyboard. It takes him too long to respond. He knows Egbert must be growing anxious back at the town, but his mind is stuck on this new girl. _John's got himself a girl_.

**TG: **nahh man  
**TG: **havin too much fun  
**TG: **us striders need to feel the wind in our hair

**EB: **your brothers still here

**TG: **i cant come back yet

This time John delays his response. Dave sits and waits patiently. It's a shitty metaphor, but Dave knows he'll wait as long as it takes.

**EB: **fine**  
EB: **do your silly art thing**  
EB: **I hope you're bringing me back stuff

**TG: **you bet bro  
**TG: **got a sick pair of trick handcuffs with your name on them

- _turntechGodhead ceased pestering ectoBiologist at 17:40 - _

- _ectobiologist began pestering turntechGodhead at 17:41 - _

**EB: **and there you go again, without saying goodbye

- _ectoBiologist ceased pestering turntechGodhead at 17:41 – _

Dave spends the next few days aggressively pushing a certain raven haired boy and his new girlfriend out of his mind. He drives faster than he normally would and doesn't stop to admire scenery that would normally draw him in for a sketch or photograph or two. Instead the blonde pushes the truck onwards.

Cities are usually as empty as they come but this one isn't. Infact, Dave would imagine there are nearly 200 people holed up in San Francisco. It's the largest amount of human beings he's seen in one place, and likely the largest he's ever going to see again. It's been months since he's had any sort of contact, human being or animal, and he's actually a little relieved to be able to hear voices again. The one in his head was getting rather repetitive.

People are asking him where he'd like to stay as if they're expecting him to join them. Dave guesses people must join this city often, as really, who would turn down something like that? There's more to do here than anywhere else he's ever been and he would be stupid to leave. But stupid he is. Still, he pawns off some CDs from a lady in town. He needs new music in his truck.

John would probably like it here. He's always been a fan of people, has never had a problem making friends. Everyone in town had loved him, cherished him dearly. Even Dave himself had. Still cherishes him.

John and his new girlfriend probably would have stayed. But Dave Strider is a loner, and he leaves after just a few short days.

* * *

**AN:/ **This will be a two-shot. Part 2 is already halfway done.  
In my headcannon Dave is actually a pretty artistic dude when he isn't screwing around, and when he isn't babbling he's also kind of a loner. So here you go.  
Cover image drawn by me. I have a billion and one HS sketches and about 3 pieces on dA, fallende-feder da, you should check them out.


	2. Chapter 2

Dave's been driving for so many hours without a bite to eat that he thinks his stomach might tear itself apart.

Okay, he actually has a decent stack of food in his car. A month ago his truck had crapped out on him and Dave had reluctantly picked up a Lincoln from the highway. And okay, it wasn't that reluctant. The thing was abandoned and damn if it wasn't the sweetest ride he could get his hands on. His chips had been thrown carelessly into the back seat along with the trunk of stuff he'd been collecting.

Still, the red eyed man preferred to hunt or forage when he could now. Having learned some tricks from Jack Noir was handy and he liked to have the buffer food incase he hit a desert and couldn't find much game. That wouldn't save him from thirst though, and his entire trunk was now filled with gallons of water. Couldn't be too stingy in the desert.

He'd hit another abandoned town a few days back, and in it he'd found The Motherload. Coming in first place as the top find was a pair of wool Christmas socks with little reindeer on them. He'd shoved them on for the sake of irony and because his toes were kind of fucking cold (though it was like 50 degrees outside. Dave was a Texan at heart). Besides, nothing was cooler than Rudolph.

Taking second was a sweet stash of the most ridiculously fuzzy hoodies he had ever come across. He'd grabbed a few, all with these weird symbols on them. An orange one for Rose, a black one for Jade, simply because he didn't really know what colors they would want and those were really the only ones the store had anyways. The blue one went to John, to compliment his eyes. Dave tried not to dwell on that. He kept the red one with the gear symbol for himself. To him, it symbolized time, and boy did the blonde have a lot of it to waste.

And of course, when he found a gun shop that he could actually get in to, he couldn't help himself from going inside and taking everything that he could. There were very few guns in the town, and Dave had no idea if they were ever going to need them come the future. The firearms were useful for hunting too.

This left the rest of his backseat crammed with a few rifles, too many pistols, and way too many shells, some of which didn't even fit the guns he had. He figured if he had to he could trade them.

And while cleaning the place out he strikes gold. Internet. Nothing could make this place any better.

- _turntechGodhead began pestering tentacleTherapist at 11:30 -_

**TG: **hey lalonde

**TT: **Hello Dave. I trust things have been going well for you.

**TG: **oh just swell darling  
**TG: **found the most epic reindeer socks, am wearing the shit out of them  
**TG: **you know for ironic purposes

**TT: **I'm sure that's exactly what it is. I will be sure to knit you some socks for when you come back.  
**TT: **That will be sometime soon, I hope?  
**TT: **Your brother keeps passive aggressively mentioning how much he misses you.

**TG: **how does that even work

**TT: **he just kind of brings it up sometimes. "Oh, I'm sure my little brother is out creating some sick beats and taking epic mountain hikes while we sit here sowing crops. I'm sure he'll get sick of it and come back soon though."  
**TT: **I get the feeling he's wrong.

**TG: **nahh  
**TG: **theres apple juice out here lalonde

**TT: **I'm glad you found what's really important.  
**TT: **John does it too you know.

**TG: **see now that I believe  
**TG: **boy is sappy enough to actually do it

**TT: **He's gotten kind of closed off recently  
**TT: **Vriska asked him out and they dated for like a month before he broke up with her. Said he couldn't bring himself to commit when it seems people he cares about leave him.

**TG: **he did not say that you are so full of shit

**TT: **Okay perhaps he didn't say it out loud.  
**TT: **But if you were here you would understand. He misses you.

**TG: **yeah i kinda miss the dweeb too

**TT: **Now that that's settled, let me go grab him.

**TG: **wait lalonde**  
TG: **dont

**TT: **oh?

**TG: **i just**  
TG: **i dunno**  
TG: **dont wanna be guilt tripped into going back  
**TG: **cant say no to his puppy dog eyes  
**TG: **or sappy text or w/e

**TT: **I see.**  
TT: **As it is I really do have to leave.

**TG: **yeah

**TT: **Stay safe, Strider.

- _tentacleTherapist ceased pestering turntechGodhead at 11:58 _–

Dave remembers Vriska as being a little too overwhelming. Her idea of fun was too dangerous (though who is he to talk, he has daily sword fights with his older brother), and she had hurt too many people in town for him to be comfortable hanging around John.

More than that, Dave thinks that that's two girls John's been with since he's been gone, and Dave's starting to see his chances with him fly off the metaphorical handle. The blue eyed boy had always been into that whole 'not a homosexual' thing.

So Dave once again drowns himself in pavement and music, writing lyrics to songs that make sense when he's penciling them but upon rereading he wonders if he'd accidentally smoked something.

He eventually ends up in Arizona and Dave decides he's gonna visit the Grand Canyon. First he stocks up on as much stolen gas as he can muster, then the refills his water in some dead guy's shower, uses it while he's at it, and grabs the man's cans of kidney beans and pear slices. Pears are close enough to apples, he figures. They still taste deliciously juicy later in the week.

So when he's finally put enough sand under his wheels he deciphers the map enough to take him in the right direction. He ends up somewhere along the top edge of the canyon, but he figures he can spend the next week or so hiking along the thing. It's not as if he has anywhere else to be.

He takes so many photographs he goes through 3 rolls of film. But he knows developing them once he gets back will be worth it because he'll be able to show everyone the 2 years that he's spent so far on the road and he knows everyone will want to see this place. The break itself is nothing short of gorgeous and the rock walls entice more pages in his sketchbook than he can afford, but he fills the thing up and doesn't even care because it's the most beautiful sight he's ever seen.

Dave amends that statement almost as soon as it crosses his mind. It's the most beautiful _landmark_ he's ever seen, but nothing will ever be more beautiful than a certain raven haired boy who had captured his heart long ago.

A few days later and he's at the bottom of the canyon, a few miles away from his car and sitting under the stars. Looking up at the pinpoints of light, Dave feels like he can die here. He can die right now and he would be perfectly happy. There is a slight breeze but he's curled up with his hoodie and his back is propped as comfortably as it's going to get on a rock, he's eating pear slices and surrounded by blissful silence. Here, his thoughts don't run wild and all he has to do for the rest of his life is relax.

He's certainly lived enough. Over his lifetime he's seen so much, taken so many pictures and drawn so many forests and mountains and animals that he's not sure there's anything that could be new to him anymore. He's certainly loved and been loved. He's got an older brother who showed him the world, and a girl close enough he could call her a sister who he'd recently enough talked to.

He'd found love in a boy named John, and though he knew that had gone nowhere and never would; as they say, 'tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

He watched the stars twinkle slightly in the sky, a small wispy cloud pass over the crescent moon, and counted a shooting star before he drifted into a calm sleep.

The next morning he starts the trek back to his car and tries not to think again about wanting to die.

- _turntechGodhead began pestering carcinoGeneticist at 12:14_ –

**TG: **saw the grand canyon about a month ago  
**TG: **was pretty rad  
**TG: **climbed the shit out of that motherfucker  
**TG: **scaled those walls raiders of the lost ark style  
**TG: **did that even happen in indiana jones i dont even fucking remember

**CG: **THATS SO FUCKING 'RAD' BUT I DON'T SEE WHY YOU THINK I COULD GIVE MORE THAN A SINGLE SHIT ABOUT IT**  
CG: **ARE YOU GOING TO GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE YET

**TG: **nahh

Dave supposed some people just didn't know that the key to survival was movement. You had to be willing to get up and go at any moment, because there were loads of unfound cities stuffed to the brim with food and shelter. Perhaps some people felt the need to stay put and instead resorted to hunting or robbing wanderers like him. Perhaps some people clustered together in little groups and farmed.

Dave learns the hard way just how far some people will go to continue living, and just how crazy loneliness can drive you.

He's stopped for the night. It's dark and there is no moon out, so the only thing Dave has to see while he digs through the trunk for food is a dim flashlight with dying batteries. The man is nothing more than a shadow and the blonde doesn't notice there's anyone behind him until they've grabbed a hold of his arm and swung a butchers knife from behind their back.

Dave instantly flash steps back and snatches his hand from the man. In the dim glow of the dropped flashlight, he can see a filthy beard and wild green eyes. The man snarls one word, "English", and _what was that, a name?_ before he's leaping for Dave once again, this time aiming for his face.

Yes, Dave is battle trained. But that's just it – he's trained for battle. This man is doing no such thing. He's desperate and needy, slowly starving to death in a suburb outside of Colorado. He's not fighting, but instead blindly flailing and hoping to get a hit. His moves make no sense and Dave cannot get a good punch in. Instead, he's dodging while an insane man slowly advances on him.

The scraggly looking man manages to get a grimy hold of Dave's left hand. The man's grip is firm and he refuses to let go, no matter how hard Dave tugs. The man swings down with his butchers knife, he can see a flash of silver, and then Dave's world explodes in pain.

The man retreats back a step and immediately takes a bite of what Dave can only assume is his pinky finger. Outmatched and down a fist, Dave takes his opportunity to abscond. He sprints over to where he's strayed from his car, throws the door open, and doesn't stop driving until he's put at least 10 miles between him and English.

And the only reason he really stops is because he's become dizzy from blood loss. He uses his good hand to reach into the passenger seat and pulls out one of the old wool reindeer socks. It's relatively clean and the only thing he can use to bandage the wound.

When he finally looks down at his left hand, he notices 2 of the fingers at the bottom have been cut off. _Cannibal, _he thinks. Sure, he'd heard of them and he knew they existed, but the idea had never really registered in his mind; that someone could be so starving they would eat another human being. English was off some 10 plus miles back eating two of his fingers, and Dave can't hold back the bile. His last can of food that he'd eaten for lunch comes up like acid, and once Dave's rinsed his mouth out he sets to work.

It's bleeding too much. He has no first aid. Dave's mind briefly registers that he'll have to cauterize it.

Absently Dave pulls out the lighter he's been using to start fires when it's chilly. Looking down again, he groans. If only he thought ahead enough to have pain killers. Then Dave lights up and, with as little thought as possible, shoves his bleeding hand above the flame.

- _timeaeusTestified began pestering turntechGodhead at 22:15 _-

**TT: **do my eyes deceive me or is david strider actually online

**TG: **chillin out in some dudes house for the night. laptop is wired

**TT: **nobodies heard from you for nearly a year**  
TT: **was kinda worried you were dead

**TG: **yeah**  
TG: **sorry about that i guess

**TT:** kind of a big fuck you to all of us

**TG: **been in the middle of snowsville**  
TG: **spent like 2 months in a ski lodge cuz it actually had heat  
**TG: **learned to ski while i was there

**TT: **bro listen**  
TT: **this is only the second time ive heard from you directly in over 3 years**  
TT: **either come back or cut ties

**TG: **i**  
TG: **just need a little longer

- _timeaeusTestified ceased pestering turntechGodhead at 22:23 -_

_- ectoBiologist began pestering turntechGodhead at 22:27 -_

**EB: **good to know youre not dead i guess

**TG: **nice to see you too egbert

**EB: **dave**  
EB: **i'm not gonna wait for you forever you know  
**EB: **we all actually did think you were dead

**TG: **wait what?

**EB: **please**  
EB: **can you just come the fuck home?

**TG: **still got things i gotta do

**EB: **what the fuck could you possibly have to do alone in the middle of nowhere**  
EB: **don't you care about us at all?**  
EB: **i thought you were happy with me here  
**EB: **how can you be happy out there

**TG: **its a different kind of happiness**  
TG: **or i dunno general contentedness

**EB: **how?

**TG: **you wouldn't really know**  
TG: **been cooped up in farm town your whole life**  
TG: **i need to stretch my wings bro  
**TG: **draw some pictures, take some photos, see some sights**  
TG: **i cant just sit around tilling soil forever  
**TG: **am sick to death of cow manure

**EB: **okay so you stretched your wings**  
EB: **drawed some things and hiked some shit**  
EB: **youre done now. come home.

Dave feels almost tempted to give in. John had said something earlier, and Dave kept telling himself not to latch on to that little string of hope. But. The words were right there, staring him in the face. And Dave always had a hard time saying no to John.

**TG: **i cant come back for cow manure bro

**EB: **so then come back for me**  
EB: **us**  
EB: **the town**  
EB: **whatever  
**EB: **its dangerous on the road**  
EB: **theres highway robbers and shit

**TG: **oh man you dont even know**  
TG: **have i got a story for you

_On second thought, telling John some of your fingers had been cut off might be a conversation best saved for later_. Dude just got over thinking the blonde was dead, after all.

**EB: **you'd probably just be an idiot and join them anyways

**TG: **yeah that happened didn't it

**EB: **dave

**TG: **john

**EB: **please

**TG: **...  
**TG: **goodnight

**EB: **you suck

- _turntechGodhead ceased pestering ectoBiologist at 23:13 _-

**EB: **pester me soon so i know youre not dead  
**EB: **dammit

Coming back down from the mountain ski lodge is a lot easier now that Dave knows how to ski. A few days later brings him back to melting snow at the edge of a forest. His car was ditched months before when Dave had decided he wanted to cross into the tree line, but it was about time to get that sucker back. Too many valuables in there, after all.

He trots around for a week or so, going in the right general direction according to the sun, and decides it's time to find food. He'd spotted a wolf pack a while back and perhaps if he ninja stalked them for a while he could find a rabbit or some shit.

Turning back around and retracing his footsteps in the early March frost, it takes Dave a few hours but he finds the wolf pack again. He follows them in the trees Connor Kenway style for another few hours but instead finds a nest of eggs and just eats those. He's still hungry but at least he's not starving, and he can always melt some snow still pooled in the shade beneath the tree where he found the eggs for water.

Dave sets up camp nearby the wolf pack because he could probably still use them to find food tomorrow. He'd, again, learned the hard way that desperately eating random berries was not the thing to do after he'd been laid up in the cabin for 2 days.

Staring into the warm glow of his small fire, Dave's mind wanders to the wolves. They stuck together, always with family. They had a home in the forest where they looked out for each other. And they weren't just together for survival, these wolves seem to share an actual bond.

What did Dave have? He had a bunch of stuff piling up in a car that he'd meant to take back to town but had just ended up ditching when it was convenient for him. He was slowly going hungry states away from the people he'd also abandoned. And said people there were finally starting to just assume he was dead.

He thought of John, who wanted him to come back so badly. _Come back for me_. The words ticked constantly through Dave's head like clockwork.

And then the resolve hit him. As soon as he found that car, he was going back to town.

It's a week of blundering south down the highway before Dave finds his car again. There's just enough gas to get him to another group of cars before he has to start stealing from them again, but he manages to get out of Colorado. Wyoming is uneventful and he almost has to ditch his gorgeous Lincoln because there are so few cities around here. But he stays alive long enough to cut as quickly as possible through Idaho (where he dines on potatoes) and before he knows what he's gonna say when he gets back he's entered Washington state.

He gets into the general vicinity of where he knows town is but he's not e_xactly_ sure, so spends an obnoxiously long amount of time driving around looking for some familiar roads. In Dave's defense, it had been nearly 3 ½ years. He's decided he's not gonna come up with some fancy one liner to say when he gets in. He's just gonna wing it.

When he finally sees the ranch of cows with all that stupid manure, he can't stop the smile that breaks out on his face. As much as he'd loved the open road, it was actually kind of good to be back here.

He sees a few people on the drive back to the house bro had claimed. Whether they knew it was him in the drivers seat or they just wanted to know who the new guy was, they drop what they're doing and follow after the silver Lincoln.

And when Dave finally pulls the handle and touches down on home soil, the first person to greet him is Bro. The older man had come out to check the rumble of a car outside his window, and Dave's glad to finally see his only surviving family again. Dirk says nothing but holds out his hand for a fist-bump which Dave eagerly returns. Then he's enveloped in a hug.

He hands his brother a couple of swords, not so shitty as the ones they'd had before, and keeps one for himself. He also discreetly slips Dirk a smuppet, and his brother can't resist a grin. Dave knows payback for leaving is coming in the form of plush rump tonight.

The first new thing in town that Dave notices is that Casey is, actually, a 10 year old girl and there was no way she and John had ever had romantic feelings for each other.

Terezi doesn't even say hello, just dives right in to the now open back seat and claims herself a box of chalk. Dave had saved it for her anyways. He also hands her a little dragon plush, and she laughs and plants one right on his mouth. Terezi had a habit of kissing anyone and everyone all the time, so it had stopped being a thing that was weird.

As he's handing a brightly smiling Jade the rubber bands, he spots Egbert hanging at the back of the group, shyly wringing his hands. But there's a cute girl jumping around in excitement just for him, and Dave focuses his immediate attention on her. He also hands Jade the hoodie and one of the rifles, knowing she'd put it to good use.

Next he turns to Rose. She's not smiling but he can see warmth in her eyes. He awaits a lecture, but when he gets none he turns again to the back seat. He pulls out some hefty tomes and the orange hoodie he'd grabbed her, and this time there's _almost_ a quirk in her black covered lips. "Welcome back." She says. There's a minute of idle catching-up, Rose tells him she wrote her own book, and then she steps away to make room for someone else.

Dave first tries to pretend he didn't get Karkat anything, just to get some sort of reaction, but when the olive skinned shorty says "Well, as long as you're back I guess it's alright" Dave covers his uncalled-for embarrassment by shoving a sterling silver necklace shaped like his zodiac sign into the man's hands. "You fuckhead, I saw it sitting on the floor of the car. Who else around here is a Cancer?" Dave just pulls him into a one-armed hug and gives him a noogie.

He wordlessly passes a baggie of weed to Gamzee. There's a "thanks, motherfucker" before the pothead goes off to find somewhere to smoke it. After some bothering, Dave shoves a bucket into Vriska's waiting hands, and she visibly pales. After some more digging through the trunk, he walks over to 'Dadbert' and gives him 2 boxes of cake mix as well as a tub of icing. The man lights up like Christmas. Mama Lalonde gets alcohol, because honestly what else would he have grabbed for her?

Finally everyone else has cleared and it's just Dave and John left standing outside bro's house. There's some nervous shuffling of feet before the tanned boy steps forward. Dave's expecting a tender bro embrace, but instead arms wrap around him and his lips are covered with Johns. He can't help an unmanly squeak of surprise, but Dave's waited for this his whole life and he melts in to the kiss quickly.

He digs out the last of the gifts from his car. He passes the hoodie behind his back and John puts it right on, then he snaps the trick handcuffs over John's wrists and slips a 3-fingered hand with the keys in his front pocket. The boy laughs and fishes them out, unlocking his hands just as Dave hands over one of his sketchbooks. He hopes it conveys the meaning to John that he can't say with words.

John says that Dave's not allowed to leave him again and the red eyed man has trouble responding. Right now he has no desire to leave those royal blue eyes, but who knows what his heart will desire 2 years from now? So instead, he chuckles and responds, "Hey, help me set up a dark room. I got some more stuff to show ya."

* * *

**AN:/ **Not the happiest ending ever, but that's just how I roll.  
Dave will probably leave again. But maybe next time he'll be smart enough to bring John with him?  
This is also on AO3. Hope you enjoyed.


End file.
